Good news for smokers flying through Macau: even as the city moves to tighten its anti-smoking law, Macau International Airport’s (MFM) smoking lounges keep their exemption. On June 10, 2026 the Legislative Assembly unanimously passed the outline of a government bill amending Macau’s Tobacco Prevention and Control Law — and the long-standing carve-out for airport and casino smoking lounges stays in place.
What is changing
The bill (still an outline, now heading to committee for an article-by-article review before a final vote) proposes to:
- Extend the outdoor smoking ban to more public areas — including within 10 metres of the entrances to all schools, kindergartens, crèches, hospitals, and public health centres.
- Ban e-cigarettes in all public spaces.
- Equip anti-smoking inspectors with body-worn cameras.
The fixed fine for illegal smoking is 1,500 patacas. Macau’s tobacco law first took effect in 2012 and has been amended twice before, in 2018 and 2022.
The airport lounges keep their exemption
Here is the key point for travelers. Under Macau’s law, indoor smoking is banned in all public venues except for the smoking lounges in casinos and at the airport — and the new amendment bill leaves that exemption untouched. So Macau International Airport (MFM) remains one of the relatively few airports worldwide where you can still smoke at a designated indoor lounge after security.
What it means for smokers
If you are flying via Macau, you can still use the airport’s indoor smoking lounges as before — see our Macau Airport (MFM) smoking guide for the lounge locations. The one thing to watch is vaping: the proposed amendments would ban e-cigarettes across all public spaces, so play it safe and use only the designated smoking facilities, and keep any vape device packed away in public areas. Macau is part of our wider China airport smoking guide, which covers the mainland plus Hong Kong and Macau.
The bigger picture: Macau is steadily tightening where you can light up outdoors and clamping down on vaping, but it continues to protect indoor smoking lounges at the casinos and the airport — a smoker-friendly stance that sets it apart from most of Asia.
Sources
- Macau Post Daily — Macau legislators pass outline of bill toughening anti-smoking rules: macaupostdaily.com